Add'l Self Care & Wellness Recommendations

These are the tools I frequently recommend for various methods of self care, and the people I personally work with. Please don’t hesitate to call, text, or email with any questions you might have or if you need help with any of these resources. Love this life~*Julie Gammon Healing Artswww.juliegammon.com

YOGA RESOURCES

Local Teachers: I am currently teaching in the Lewiston/Auburn area, and available for private sessions. Find a teacher nearby if you can for in person feed-back, guidance, and for the wonderful support of community/group energy. I like to be inspired and motivated by the classes I drop into, it keeps me involved. Try as many different types of classes as you can to find what you like, and that can change with the seasons/your mood/your day! Let me know if you need help with this in your area.My current class listings & private session scheduling: www.juliegammon.comOnline Streaming Yoga-on-Demand: A great resource for limited budgets, time, and local teacher availability. You can choose anything from gentle to power vinyasa, great to try different styles like yin, vinyasa, Iyengar, kundalini, ashtanga, restorative, etc. You can choose anything from 5 minute to 2 hour classes and anything in between, whatever fits your time frame, whenever you are inspired! The streaming classes are usually very clear and easy to follow along. They usually offer a free 2 week trial, and membership is around $15-20/month for access to all classes.YogaGlo: Use the ‘filter’ in the menu bar to choose your customized class.Hridaya Hermitage, Farmington, ME: Yoga ashram with amazing bodywork followed by a sauna. $75 for one hour abhyanga (oil massage) with 2 practitioners working on you, sauna might be extra depending if its already going for a festival day or not. They have monthly festivals and sweet little cabins with wood stoves.ShivaShakti ~ Aiyana and Krishna, Camden, ME: Ayurvedic practitioners, massage therapists, owners/instructors of yoga & healing arts school. My first teachers for both yoga and Thai Bodywork, a true wealth of knowledge in healing.

YOGA NIDRA GUIDED RELAXATION (Yogic Soul Retrieval):

Y’all know this is my baby. A traditional yoga nidra should be at least 45 minutes to address and reintegrate the 5 body sheaths of your being (physical, energy, emotional, mental, etheric/bliss). I feel this is essentially a yogic soul retrieval experience. This superconscious state, deeply relaxed but awake and aware, brings you into a deeply restorative healing place that will release tension, enhance your vital energy and leave you with a greater sense of peace and wellbeing. One hour of yoga nidra practice restores the body similarly to 6 hours of deep sleep. You can sometimes find yoga nidra offered at yoga studios, and there are recordings you can listen to at home for regular practice. I have a wonderful recording with my friend Shanti of the world renown folk duo Arborea. I have tried many on youtube, most of which I have been disappointed in the voices and they are too short to be a true yoga nidra.You can listen to a sample clip before purchasing. Awaken…yoga nidra guided meditation

DIGESTION

Do you have arthritis (chronic inflammation), edema, acid reflux, heartburn, tummy bloat? Wanna make it really easy to try an elimination diet and see how poor digestion might be affecting your body? Regardless if your issues seem directly related to food, cutting back to non-inflammatory & nourishing nutrient-dense foods is the ultimate support for healing whatever might be going on.It is always helpful to the body/mind/spirit to lighten it’s work load, so to speak. It’s deep self care and a wonderful ‘reset’ to detox periodically, and especially so if you have anything challenging going on with your health.

I highly recommend the Whole30 elimination/reset diet, for me it is a way of life. The book has all the info you need and fabulous recipes. It teaches you quite a bit about your relationship with inflammatory foods, what physical/emotional issues are being caused by inability to digest problematic foods, how to eat healthier in the long run.There is a LOT of online support for whole30 which can be instrumental to your success. I recommend joining the Facebook Groups, but also taking the extra step of changing their notifications to “see first” because then you will see all the posts from other people doing the whole30. Otherwise you don't see them, and when you scroll down the wall you will only see the admin posts. User posts are very inspirational, keep you motivated, have lots of pertinent newbie questions that will also come up for you, and the support from seasoned veterans is really insightful. Plus the recipe suggestions!Whole30 bookWhole30 websiteWhole30 support (FB)Whole30 Recipes (FB)Whole30 for Busy Moms (FB)

Another of my go-to books is the Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook which is very close to the whole30 guidelines but allows some honey and maple syrup in recipes.There are also food delivery services now which are actually affordable, super time saving, and hassle free for someone who might be inexperienced in an elimination diet. It can be super helpful if you are feeling overwhelmed with a new way of cooking. I like to keep the Pete's Paleo meals in the freezer for those busy work days or when I just dont feel like cooking. Super helpful to keep from grabbing food that causes inflammation!SunBasket delivery provides groceries for 3 recipes/week for 2 or 4 people, all organic with paleo, gluten free, dairy free choices. This is super helpful for those who need support on how to cook non-inflammatory foods (GF DF), it can seem very daunting to change the way you prepare food. For three free meals use my discount code!Pete's Paleo provides cooked ready-to-go meals (Organic GF DF SF GMO-free sweetener-free). You can even order a complete 21 day detox program. Use my referral link for $10/off your Pete's Paleo order.

COMMUNITY ACUPUNCTURE

A great way to get affordable regular acupuncture in a group setting, although if you have any serious issues going on I recommend paying the extra for at least one personal one-on-one. Wear stretchy yoga-like clothing for the best access to multiple points.L/A Community Acupuncture, Lewiston, ME: $25 per visit, walk ins welcome or online booking.Androscoggin Community Acupuncture, Lewiston, ME: sliding scale $30-50 first visit, $20-40 thereafter.Wildwood Community Acupuncture, Portland, ME: $40 first visit, $30 thereafter.Brett VanCott of Dragonfly Oriental Medicine, Hallowell, ME, gives individual sessions if you want a little more one-on-one attention.

HEALING BREATHWORK

Breath is very powerful tool for letting go of tension, whether muscular, emotional, spiritual, etc. Healing breath sessions have gotten me through VERY stressful times with grace and ease. Incredibly healing and freeing.Brenda Colfer, Lifebreath, chakradance, sound healer, reiki. Brenda is an amazing healer, her Lifebreath sessions are always a landing and launching pad for me when I am here in between traveling.

ROLFING

Rolfing is a deep tissue/fascial release bodywork system that releases bound areas and profoundly changes your structural alignment/posture. It is intense, so not for everyone. I have seen huge increases in joint mobility and decreases in pain in single sessions. Becky is the best bodyworker I have ever worked with, I can’t find anyone to equal her knowledge and effectiveness.Becky Dacus, Auburn, ME.

FELDENKRAIS THERAPY

Also structural realignment like Rolfing, but gentle micro-movements that reset your central nervous system, cueing your pain pattern to let go and releasing your fascial restriction. Very gentle and nourishing, very profound. I have gotten up out of a single session feeling like I was standing in a new body, and disbelieving that it was possible to feel so free in my body. The micro-movements she teaches you can be done at home to continue your progress. It is offered in private and/or group sessions.Jane Burdick, Portland, ME.

SHAMANIC ENERGY WORK

Rhonda McCarthy Ouellette, Mexico, ME. It is difficult to describe the amazing depth of Rhonda’s gifts. She practices and teaches shamanic work (soul retrieval, past life regression, cord cutting, contract work), psychic readings, intuitive energy healings…she likes to refer to it all as ‘Soul Coaching’. I have had the most amazing experiences working with her, and deep respect for her abilities.

SELF CARE TOOLS

Body Rolling: Using a ‘roller’ and balls with varying hardness and size you can roll out your tense muscles. It is a fabulous way to continue the work on your own in between sessions with bodyworkers. I use a roller, a coupe tennis balls, a racket ball, softball, baseball, and a child sized small soft rubber ball (@5”, for the abdomen).My friend Mike Tan’s excellent rolling guideBack Buddy: an ’S' shaped tool for you to get trigger points easily in your back, shoulders, etc. Another great way to continue the work on your own. The trigger point workbook is really effective in conjunction with it.Spoonk Acupressure Mat: You lie on this mat for @30 minutes and it activates hundreds of pressure points on your back. Like a self-treatment of acupuncture, without the puncture. It will feel a little intense the first 5 minutes you are on it, but I promise your body adjusts if you wait it out. I love my mat! I lay on it when I listen to yoga nidra guided meditations.

NATUROPATHIC DOCTORS

Lotus Family Practice, Falmouth, ME is a Direct Primary Care provider. It's a co-op/membership style model where you pay $60/month and get all visits and quite a few great included services, plus wholesale cost of blood tests and medications. For example I had 8 blood tests and a pap smear done for around $110 (regular priced would have been @ $1000 or more)! I love Dr Krouse, she is young and vibrant, patient, and very present. Appts with her are on average an hour long, not 10 rushed minutes! She takes a holistic approach whenever possible, and makes her own herbal medicines, but as an Osteopath she has access to prescriptions (at cost!) and/or whatever else is needed. Check out the services! I have been very happy with this practice since Feb/2017.

For a Naturopath (ND) I highly recommend one of my teachers Rebecca Word, Blue Ridge Naturopath. She blew my mind with her knowledge and I am excited to have her in my corner with my own digestive challenges. She does phone/skype consults for $120, so you can access her knowledge from wherever.